My parents' wedding anniversary is June 14th. My favorite picture of my Mom and Dad, on that day, is a photo of my Mom in her wedding gown playing the drums with the band and, nearby, my Dad sits on the edge of the bandstand with his head in his hands. Many years and 6 kids later, I remember my parents coming home from a shopping trip. Mom wanted a new toilet paper roll holder. Dad had been sick for a few years and, even though he was feeling kind of crummy and my parents didn’t have a lot of cash at the time, he took Mom down to the Dill’s Lumber Yard. (Our version of Home Depot) At Dill’s, Dad bought Mom the fanciest toilet paper roll holder there. Between their wedding, many moons before, and the purchase of that toilet paper roll holder, my Mom and Dad had lived years of ‘happy forever.’

For me, it kind of feels like a ‘happy forever’ since the teachers and I met your amazing children at family meetings last August. In that time, so much has happened! We have laughed big belly laughs at tons of silly knock knock jokes and cried huge tears at drop-off. We danced to the Toe Jam Puppet Band and called you to talk about little and big things that happened at school. We saw the ballet and visited the zoo. We held an alligator and met Mother Goose. We wore our Red, White and Blue uniform shirts with pride but sometimes showed our school spirit with Crazy Hair, Crazy Socks and lots of silly costumes. The Kindergartners learned to read and write and do Math with 10 frames. The Preschoolers learned letters and sounds, their name and how to count. We practiced being kind and learned how to have: ‘eyes watching, body calm, ears listening, voices quiet.’ All in all, we became a school family.

Whenever, I am ‘home’ with my family in NY, I see that fancy toilet paper roll holder. Please know though that with even a little tug, the tp and the holder that never really worked ends up flying across the bathroom floor. I never get exasperated. It always just makes me smile because it is a symbol of my Dad’s love for my Mom. Onbehalf of all of the faculty and staff, thank you for gifting us with the privilege and honor of spending a year with your little one.Thank you for a year of love.